Colts stopped by Athens

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The Daily Reporter - Coldwater, MI

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Posted Mar. 8, 2013 at 9:00 AM

Posted Mar. 8, 2013 at 9:00 AM

Hillsdale, Mich.

By Andy Barrandandy.barrand@hillsdale.netMENDON — Hillsdale Academy seniors Elyse Lisznyai and Lyndee Wonders stood at the end of the bench hugging each other tight with tears running down their face as the clock hit zero at Mendon High School Thursday night.The tears weren’t tears of joy as the Hillsdale Academy girls basketball team fell to Athens in the Class D Regional Finals at Mendon. The Colts lost 68-42 to the defending Class D State Champs.Lisznyai and Wonders along with Christina Craig are the graduating seniors on the Colts squad who finished the year with a 22-2 record.After the game Hillsdale Academy head coach Kevin Reed complemented his three seniors on the year they had."My worst fears came true tonight," he said. "We ran into the perfect storm."The Colts fell behind early in the game as Athens came out in the first quarter and shot lights out from the field. Athens went 12-of-18 from the field in the first half and 9-of-10 from the free throw line. At half Athens led the Colts 35-14.Reed said his girls could just never find their rhythm in the first half as the Colts shot 2-17 from the field. The Colts tried their best to stay in the game shooting 9-of-10 from the free-throw line in the half.Hillsdale Academy guard McKayla Tharp also ran into foul trouble early picking up her third foul with 2:35 left in the first quarter. After halftime. Two minutes and 35 seconds into the second half she picked up her fourth and fifth foul as she received a technical foul.After sticking around Tuesday night to watch the regional semifinal game between Athens and St. Joseph Michigan Lutheran, Reed knew his team was in for a challenge."They are a really great team," he said. "We knew they were a much quicker team and we were."Going into the game, the Colts knew they couldn’t get into a running match with the Indians.Reed said he was hoping the referees would have called a little more tight of a ballgame. The physical nature of the game played into the hands of Athens."They took advantage of all of our mistakes," he said.Hillsdale Academy came out after halftime and attempted to claw their way back into the game as Lisznyai had 12 points in the half. With every shot that fell on the offensive end though the Indians matched them on the defensive end. Lisznyai had 18 points on the night to lead the team."We are not going to let this game define our season," Reed said. "We are going to build on this season with the girls who are returning."The nine returning members of the team all seen action during Thursday night’s game."They got a lot of experience tonight," he said. "We want to play like they do."Athens was led by four girls in double figures, Chantel Davenport with 14, Audrey Oswalt with 13, Cassie Wedel and Siana Staton each had 10.Rounding out the scoring for the Colts was Wonders (5), Craig (4), Michaela Biegner (4), Kelsey Lantis (3), Tharp (2), Olivia Jones (2), Kendra Lantis (2) and Maeve Sullivan (2).